Prawn Biriyani

My Amma made two versions of Prawn biriyani - Red and Green. As soon as Annu (dad) would get fresh prawns, we would vote for Green or Red. Irrespective of the colour, both tasted heavenly. I don't remember the recipe for Green version but Red is the easiest with minimal ingredients and simple cooking procedure. This recipe was my Dad's sister's whom we too call Akka. If I remember right, she had sent this recipe to Sanjeev Kapoor's cookery contest and won a reward. Beenakka, thanks for this wonderful recipe!

Ingredients:

Prawns 1 cup - deshelled, deveined and cleaned

Onions - 3 medium  sized, sliced

Salt - to taste

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Bay leaves - 2

Oil - 2 tbsps

For the masala:

Red chillies - 10-15 (or as per taste)

Cumin seeds - 2 tsp

Garlic - 1 tbsp

For the rice:

Basmati rice - 3 cups
Tejpatta – 2-3 (optional)
Cloves – 3-4 (optional)
Cinnamon – 1”inch piece broken into small pieces (optional)
Cardamom – 3-4 (optional)
Black pepper – 4-5 (optional)
Jeera – 1 tsp (optional)
Red chilli – 1 (optional)
Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

To prepare Rice:
1.Boil water in a vessel along with the whole garam masalas.
2. When the water starts boiling, add the rice, vinegar, salt and 1 tsp of oil.
3. Keep checking the rice until it is almost done but not fully done.
4. Strain the water away.
5. Immediately spread the rice in 2-3 plates. This prevents the rice from being sticky or stops it from cooking further.

To Prepare Prawn Masala:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and bay leaves.
2. Saute oinions on low flame till translucent or light golden brown.
3. Add the ground masala and again saute till oil startes oozing from the edges.
4. Add prawns, salt and saute till they are well cooked.

Assemling:
You may either layer the rice and prawn masala as in a Biriyani or lightly mix them taking care not to break the rice grains by mixing vigorously. Tastes best when it is left to stand for 3-4 hours. (We siblings used to fight over the leftovers next day)

Note:
1. Prawn can be replaced by fish. Use fish with least bones. Lightly boil fish pieces so that removing bones would be easier.
2. I have given the method of preparing rice as in Biriyani. You could even you plain rice but make sure you add salt while preparing rice.